Taking the guidelines from the great recommendation thread in movies/tv:

If you're giving a recommendation - Clearly state what it is and what it's all about.

If you're asking for a recommendation - Clearly state your likes, dislikes, and if certain genres or styles do not appeal to you.

Just to get started, I think a lot of you would probably like many of the podcasts on the network maximumfun.org.The network has some shows more focused on comedy, and some more focused current events/progressive political issues.

I never really got into any podcasts because I could never figure out when to listen to them. They don't work as background when I'm doing something else because I tend to miss half of the conversation and it feels weird to just sit on the couch listening.

That said, someone on these forums (Moo, I believe) recommended "Hello from the Magic Tavern" and I was instantly hooked. I also found that I can listen to it while ironing without a loss of quality for either activity.

The crazy premise of that kind of reminds me of another podcast, The Useless Majors.To sum it up briefly: people get superpowers from radioactive college degrees. Though they've been pretty inactive as of late, the last new episode was early march, and before that was one in september.

(Others on my personal list with a broad interest: Dwarf Fortress Talk*, The Infinite Monkey Cage, The Political Party, TED Talks (audio), BBC Inside Science, Comedy On Vinyl... * - nothing new for several years, but I'm still a bit behind.)

Cortex is definitely a great podcast. CGPGrey and Myke Hurley topics mainly centered around being self employed, schedules, workflow, etc.Of course, if I'm mentioning that, I should of course bring up Grey's other podcast, Hello Internet. Which is more of a general 2 guys talking type of podcast with random topics (flags, planes, movies, etc.)

I don't recommend playing Stardew Valley and listenin to The Adventure Zone at the same time, because I burned through over 60 episodes in about 2 weeks. That's... nearly as much time as full time employment.

I have one request, which is for something that can gently remind me how much time something is going to take to listen to, because my brain sorta defaults to "about 40 minutes an episode" and then I sit down for Kurt Vonne Guys which can be two and a half hours and I get into some trouble.

NPR has a lot of good stuff. (Is every radio show you can stream online a "podcast"?) if you like story telling: This American Life, Snap Judgment, The Moth if you like less personal true stuff: Radio Lab, Star Talk, 99% Invisible, Invisibilia quiz shows, and sketch comedy stuff: Ask Me Another, Wits, I had a friend who only knew A Prairie Home Companion from the 2006 movie with Lindsay Lohan and that's just the weirdest thing to me.

if you like beloved cartoons from your childhood occasionally saying horrible things Talking Toons with Rob Paulsen is great. it's mostly nice discussions about voice acting, and how much cartoons can mean to people, but it's also older guys who can be politically incorrect and say swears and stuff.

A podcast in which a bunch of *slighly* famous authors talk about how to write novels, review novels, and suggest good reads. A few of the authors that are on regularly... unm... I can only remember Brandon Sanderson, I'll put in the others in an edit later.

If you like writing or reading then you should try this podcast out. The title of podcasts is what the generally talk about i.e "character development" is about character development. So if you need help in one area I'm sure you can find it somewhere here.

My meta for future reference

Spoiler:

cemper93 wrote:Your meta appears to be "just writes whatever is on his mind and doesn't remember what happened more than five hours ago"

No Such Thing As A Fish - a team of the "QI Elves" (researchers for the BBC show QI) pick the best facts they learned in the past week and discuss them and related topics.

Dragon Friends - A group of Australian comedians with no previous RPG experience play D&D in front of a live audience. In Season 1, they're on the run after being accused of a murder they didn't commit, which is impressive given how many they *did* commit that they apparently got away with.

Free To A Good Home - A pair of Australian comedians (who are also part of the Dragon Friends cast) pick out weird and wonderful classified ads from places like Craigslist and Gumtree and discuss them.

The Worst Idea Of All Time - A pair of New Zealand comedians (for a change) watch a terrible movie every week and discuss it. The first year, when they watched the Adam Sandler film "Grown Ups 2", was put behind a paywall, but season two with "Sex and the City 2" is still available for free and they are in the midst of their third and final season (which may go for more than a year given a recent statement) as they watch the Zac Efron vehicle "We Are Your Friends".

On the more niche side (no really), two that I would recommend are:

Shut Up And Sit Down - the board games reviewers of Shut Up and Sit Down talk about games they've been playing, and more recently include segments on topics like folk games that listeners send them.

Ludology - A quasi-academic look into board game design. Rather than review games, they discuss topics like various game mechanisms, aspects of getting games developed and published, inclusiveness in games and even the wonderfully nebulous question of "What is a game?". The original hosts, Geoff Engelstein and Ryan Sturm, designed a game across several episodes of the podcast and it's currently in development to get published.

Mike Rowe wrote:All good stories have a twist, and all great storytellers are just a little twisted. Join me for a different take on the people and events that you thought you knew, from pop culture to politics, Hollywood to history… The Way I Heard It is a series of short mysteries for the curious mind with a short attention span.

DISCLAIMER: Each episode of The Way I Heard It is a true story about a real person, place, or thing. With respect to the facts, I try to be as accurate as possible. However, the Internet is full of conflicting accounts, and it’s entirely possible you might hear me say something about a person or an event that contradicts something you heard or read elsewhere. If so, feel free to bring any discrepancy to my attention. Just remember – I’m not wrong. It’s just the way I heard it…

My Take: Mike Rowe has such a pleasant voice. You know him most likely from Dirty Jobs. But he narrates just about every single show on Discovery or the Science channel that requires narration. The man is a literary genius. His podcast, delivered each Tuesday, is a short (true) story from someone from history with an inspiring story. They are often witty, quite funny and very enjoyable. The podcasts are usually only about 10 minutes so it won't burn through your whole work day, but it's a great little break. The best stories are when he refers to his parents. He also posts videos occasionally (in addition to the podcast) where he responds to fan posts on his facebook/twitter pages.

Might I suggest, you start with episode 69. Just released this week. The story takes you somewhere you never would expect. It's about someone famous, and I'm sure you know who this famous person is. But just how he got to where he is might inspire you.